Events

Update from Aquarius PI Gary Lagerloef: Upcoming Events and V2.0 Processing
Here are a few important reminders and updates to report:
  1. Abstract Deadline is in 3 days (Friday October 4) for the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2014 (Honolulu, February 23-28). You probably have received other reminders in recent days, but let me emphasize again the special session (073) on Ocean Salinity and Water Cycle Variability and Change. The session organizers plan to partition the abstracts into four sub-sessions: Satellite salinity (Aquarius/SMOS); SPURS (Salinity Processes in the Upper ocean Regional Study); Ocean variability (observations & models; all timescales); and Ocean change (observations & models; long-term). This is a major science meeting opportunity to present your latest results and we (the conveners) strongly encourage your participation. Use the abstract/registration link and be sure to select session 073.
  2. The actual dates will be 12-14 November 2013 for the Aquarius/SAC-D Science Team Meeting in Buenos Aires Argentina. The meeting will start after lunch on Tuesday 12 November, and we will adjourn at the end of the day, Thursday 14 November. We have changed to an online registration, but those who have already registered via Email do not need to register again. Four sub-sessions include: Topic 1 - Aquarius & MWR; Topic 2 - NIRST, HSC & Other; Topic 3 - Aquarius-SMOS calibration working group; Topic 4 - Surface SSS Working Group. Registration deadline is 28 October 2013; there is no registration fee. Authors for invited presentations will be notified in the coming weeks. Please see above link for more information on a summary agenda, venue, transportation and hotels.
  3. U.S. Government Shutdown will delay the release of Aquarius science data. The shutdown means that the processing team at GSFC is not permitted to work on site, and key processing and evaluation tasks are on hold, although all raw data are being preserved. The routine data processing for V2.0 is halted, and the release of September 2013 V2.0 data is delayed (processing is complete through August 2013). The Aquarius project was also planning to release the next data version, V3.0, in late October, but this will inevitably be delayed as well. Resumption of V2.0 processing and a predicted V3.0 release date will be announced when the shutdown is over.
  4. The Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans) Special Section opened in July: The call for papers for special section titled Early scientific results from the salinity measuring satellites Aquarius/SAC-D and SMOS, is now posted on the Wiley Online website. There has been some confusion by some researchers about the timing. The submission window will be open for six months and close on December 31, 2013. Jordi Font and I are serving as Guest Editors, and Des Barton, Editor in Chief for JGR-Oceans, is Lead Editor. You are encouraged to use the website where authors can voluntarily identify topics they plan to write about and add a preliminary abstract. This is intended to promote collaboration, minimize overlap, and help us all track what papers are likely to be submitted. The list will remain visible to anyone who visits the site. [This link is no longer available.] To make changes to your entry after it is submitted, please send an email to David Carey.
V2.0 processing for August 2013 was completed prior to the US Government shutdown. Therefore we have 24 months of processed data (two annual cycles) since the Aquarius instrument was completely powered-on in late August 2011. The primary data access link is here.